Investing.com - The dollar slipped lower against the other major currencies on Thursday and re-approached a one-and-a-half week trough as investors turned their attention to the European Central Bank’s upcoming policy statement.
EUR/USD rose 0.30% to 1.1272, the highest since August 26.
Sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable after downbeat U.S. employment data published last Friday crushed expectations for an upcoming rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Later the ECB was expected to leave interest rates unchanged. However, speculation over potential easing measures limited the single currencie’s gains.
GBP/USD edged up 0.16% to 1.3361.
USD/JPY fell 0.17% to 101.57, while USD/CHF slipped 0.14% to trade at 0.9685.
In Japan, final data showed that gross domestic product rose 0.2% in the second quarter, above expectations for a flat reading.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.70% at 0.7727 and with NZD/USD gaining 0.27% to 0.7470.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier reported that the trade deficit narrowed to A$2.410 billion in July from A$3.250 billion in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of A$3.195 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to A$2.750 billion in July.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD edged 0.24% lower to 1.2856.
The commodity currencies benefited from sharply higher oil prices on Thursday, as market players awaited fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.24% at 94.72, close to the previous session’s one-and-a-half week low of 94.67.